7 ms·

Google's "quality guidelines" prohibits scraping other sites and covering the first half of your site with ads. Google's results these days tend to scrape the

Google's "quality guidelines" prohibits scraping other sites and covering the first half of your site with ads. Google's results these days tend to scrape the information from most sites + list ads on >50% of the listings page. Really frustrating when Google doesn't even follow their own guidelines.

Klathmon 10y ago
That's because those guidelines aren't meant for them. Google is saying that if you don't follow their guidelines, you "shouldn't" be included in their search results. They aren't saying you are committing some kind of atrocity, just that pages that do that provide bad results from searches. Of course google doesn't want scraped results showing up in their search results. Would you want your search engine to show results from other search engines which show results from other search engines which show results from a page with a snippet which points to the real source? They aren't "not following their own rules" any more than a train is braking the rules by being on the tracks in spite of the "stay off the train tracks" sign.
- tyingq 10y ago
  From Google's post about the "too many ads above the fold" update: "As we’ve mentioned previously, we’ve heard complaints from users that if...it’s difficult to find the actual content, they aren’t happy with the experience. Rather than scrolling down the page past a slew of ads, users want to see content right away"[1] So, they recognize pages that are heavy with ads at the top, which push down the actual content, aren't a good user experience. That's exactly what I get when I search Google...a bunch of ads or other self-serving stuff on top, that pushes down the content (actual organic results) that I'm looking for. [1]https://search.googleblog.com/2012/01/page-layout-algorithm-improvement.html https://search.googleblog.com/2012/01/page-layout-algorithm-...
  - true_religion 10y ago
    To me the ads are the content as well. Often times the tip search result is the same as the top advertisement.
    - tyingq 10y ago
      Google doesn't make that distinction for sites though. The ranking penalty applies even if the top heavy ads are highly related and complimentary to your content.
    - malchow 10y ago
      My mother has exactly one way to get to the Nordstrom e-commerce site: search Google for Nordstrom, and then click on the first authoritative-looking Nordstrom search result, which is an AdWords ad, landing her at the home page. Seems expensive for Nordstrom.
      - jessaustin 10y ago
        Would a browser extension that just moved AdWords to the bottom of the page be banned from the chrome web store? I'm sort of tempted to try this, but if so I guess I should start backing up my gmail account...
        tyingq 10y ago
        Tried this on a few search result pages, seems reliable so far. document.getElementById('center_col').appendChild(document.getElementById('tvcap'));
        memmcgee 10y ago
        Are adblockers blocked from the Chrome store?
        tyingq 10y ago
        Desktop extensions aren't, but perhaps GP is remembering a similar situation with mobile ad blockers and the Play Store. https://techcrunch.com/2016/02/09/google-reverses-its-decision-to-ban-ad-blocking-apps-from-the-google-play-store/ https://techcrunch.com/2016/02/09/google-reverses-its-decisi...
- joelrunyon 10y ago
  Well, with google crafting more and more answers from other people's content, you could argue they're getting into the content game. That's sort of breaking with their original social contract that they were just a discovery tool - which is what the entire article is about.
  - icebraining 10y ago
    Is "social contract" code for "agreement I wish existed"? Because it's only used in occasions where no such agreement actually exists. Some may have expected Google to remain just a discovery tool. That doesn't mean Google owed them to do so.
    - marcosdumay 10y ago
      It's code for "agreement that everybody thought existed, despite not being written." I don't think this one social contract actually existed.
      - jpttsn 10y ago
        It might not be everybody.
- DougWebb 10y ago
  Have you tried searching for a phone number? What you described is pretty much what the search results look like.
  - Klathmon 10y ago
    That's why I put the quotes around "shouldn't". They can't make sure that none of them get in, but their guidelines are just warning that they may "wise up" at some point and if you break those guidelines you may find your site un-findable in google because of it.
gdulli 10y ago
"So the next time you complain about your phone service, why don't you try using two Dixie cups with a string? We don't care, we don't have to. We're the phone company."
slig 10y ago
Related: https://mobile.twitter.com/danbarker/status/439125570115223552?lang=en https://mobile.twitter.com/danbarker/status/4391255701152235...
froindt 10y ago
I noticed just how bad it was last week when looking at wedding bands. http://imgur.com/a/9Yz5M http://imgur.com/a/9Yz5M Top 4 results plus the entire right half are all sponsored content. There was only one link shown on the without scrolling which wasn't sponsored. Crap like this is why ad blockers are popular.
- Animats 10y ago
  That's what we have Ad Limiter for.[1] It trims Google's sponsored results down to one ad. For some subjects (try "credit card") the entire first screen from Google is ads. [1] http://www.adlimiter.com http://www.adlimiter.com
- delecti 10y ago
  You're searching for products though. All of those ads meet the criteria of your search.
shostack 10y ago
Mobile is particularly bad these days. For competitive queries you will often have the entire first screen be ads and need to scroll down to see any organic listings. That is for all intents and purposes equivalent to an interstitial.
Danylon 10y ago
Surely Google follows their own guidelines: You can't find Google Search Engine results indexed on Google itself (or any other search engine with or without ads for that matter). Google Search is more of an application than a content site. Otherwise, when Google finds itself breaking the "rules", they act: - Google banned the page for Chrome for buying paid links - Google banned an acquired company (Beatthatquote) for violating rules. - Google penalized their Adwords FAQ pages for cloaking. - Google reduced pagerank for Google Japan for buying links. - Google removed Adwords support pages for keyword stuffing. Source: searchengineland.com
- memmcgee 10y ago
  It's almost like Google is a massive corporation with different departments and contractors who don't always coordinate together.

Klathmon 10y ago

That's because those guidelines aren't meant for them. Google is saying that if you don't follow their guidelines, you "shouldn't" be included in their search results. They aren't saying you are committing some kind of atrocity, just that pages that do that provide bad results from searches. Of course google doesn't want scraped results showing up in their search results. Would you want your search engine to show results from other search engines which show results from other search engines which show results from a page with a snippet which points to the real source? They aren't "not following their own rules" any more than a train is braking the rules by being on the tracks in spite of the "stay off the train tracks" sign.

tyingq 10y ago
From Google's post about the "too many ads above the fold" update: "As we’ve mentioned previously, we’ve heard complaints from users that if...it’s difficult to find the actual content, they aren’t happy with the experience. Rather than scrolling down the page past a slew of ads, users want to see content right away"[1] So, they recognize pages that are heavy with ads at the top, which push down the actual content, aren't a good user experience. That's exactly what I get when I search Google...a bunch of ads or other self-serving stuff on top, that pushes down the content (actual organic results) that I'm looking for. [1]https://search.googleblog.com/2012/01/page-layout-algorithm-improvement.html https://search.googleblog.com/2012/01/page-layout-algorithm-...
- true_religion 10y ago
  To me the ads are the content as well. Often times the tip search result is the same as the top advertisement.
  - tyingq 10y ago
    Google doesn't make that distinction for sites though. The ranking penalty applies even if the top heavy ads are highly related and complimentary to your content.
  - malchow 10y ago
    My mother has exactly one way to get to the Nordstrom e-commerce site: search Google for Nordstrom, and then click on the first authoritative-looking Nordstrom search result, which is an AdWords ad, landing her at the home page. Seems expensive for Nordstrom.
    - jessaustin 10y ago
      Would a browser extension that just moved AdWords to the bottom of the page be banned from the chrome web store? I'm sort of tempted to try this, but if so I guess I should start backing up my gmail account...
      - tyingq 10y ago
        Tried this on a few search result pages, seems reliable so far. document.getElementById('center_col').appendChild(document.getElementById('tvcap'));
      - memmcgee 10y ago
        Are adblockers blocked from the Chrome store?
        tyingq 10y ago
        Desktop extensions aren't, but perhaps GP is remembering a similar situation with mobile ad blockers and the Play Store. https://techcrunch.com/2016/02/09/google-reverses-its-decision-to-ban-ad-blocking-apps-from-the-google-play-store/ https://techcrunch.com/2016/02/09/google-reverses-its-decisi...
joelrunyon 10y ago
Well, with google crafting more and more answers from other people's content, you could argue they're getting into the content game. That's sort of breaking with their original social contract that they were just a discovery tool - which is what the entire article is about.
- icebraining 10y ago
  Is "social contract" code for "agreement I wish existed"? Because it's only used in occasions where no such agreement actually exists. Some may have expected Google to remain just a discovery tool. That doesn't mean Google owed them to do so.
  - marcosdumay 10y ago
    It's code for "agreement that everybody thought existed, despite not being written." I don't think this one social contract actually existed.
    - jpttsn 10y ago
      It might not be everybody.
DougWebb 10y ago
Have you tried searching for a phone number? What you described is pretty much what the search results look like.
- Klathmon 10y ago
  That's why I put the quotes around "shouldn't". They can't make sure that none of them get in, but their guidelines are just warning that they may "wise up" at some point and if you break those guidelines you may find your site un-findable in google because of it.

gdulli 10y ago

"So the next time you complain about your phone service, why don't you try using two Dixie cups with a string? We don't care, we don't have to. We're the phone company."

slig 10y ago

Related: https://mobile.twitter.com/danbarker/status/439125570115223552?lang=en https://mobile.twitter.com/danbarker/status/4391255701152235...

froindt 10y ago

I noticed just how bad it was last week when looking at wedding bands. http://imgur.com/a/9Yz5M http://imgur.com/a/9Yz5M Top 4 results plus the entire right half are all sponsored content. There was only one link shown on the without scrolling which wasn't sponsored. Crap like this is why ad blockers are popular.

Animats 10y ago
That's what we have Ad Limiter for.[1] It trims Google's sponsored results down to one ad. For some subjects (try "credit card") the entire first screen from Google is ads. [1] http://www.adlimiter.com http://www.adlimiter.com
delecti 10y ago
You're searching for products though. All of those ads meet the criteria of your search.

shostack 10y ago

Mobile is particularly bad these days. For competitive queries you will often have the entire first screen be ads and need to scroll down to see any organic listings. That is for all intents and purposes equivalent to an interstitial.

Danylon 10y ago

Surely Google follows their own guidelines: You can't find Google Search Engine results indexed on Google itself (or any other search engine with or without ads for that matter). Google Search is more of an application than a content site. Otherwise, when Google finds itself breaking the "rules", they act: - Google banned the page for Chrome for buying paid links - Google banned an acquired company (Beatthatquote) for violating rules. - Google penalized their Adwords FAQ pages for cloaking. - Google reduced pagerank for Google Japan for buying links. - Google removed Adwords support pages for keyword stuffing. Source: searchengineland.com

memmcgee 10y ago
It's almost like Google is a massive corporation with different departments and contractors who don't always coordinate together.